Ranks Apart

'Argh! Come on!' Leo pressed his blade through that shell, and his teeth clenched tighter. He'd solved the conundrum of Zeta's shell, but it was still a slow process, like carving meat with a blunt knife.

'Crap!' Zeta kept typing away with her free hand, like every bit of code or word she wrote reinforced the wall. That was likely exactly what was happening. She was building a real firewall… or bladewall?

'Just give in!' Leo growled. 'I'll keep tearing down every challenge you make.'

'Oh really?' Zeta sounded smug, but her face was bright red and contorted into a nasty scowl.

'Cool powers though,' Leo added.

'Oh why thank y–screw you!' Zeta's response meant a moment of hesitation that let Leo's blade sink ever deeper. The point was barely cutting into her clothing, and Leo could feel the armoured padding beneath.

He was getting close, but somehow this was getting unsatisfying. He could loose a jolt of electricity, and that might even end the fight, but something wasn't right. He searched Zeta's eyes and found something he didn't expect–pride. It wasn't the sort that made a person embarrassed about losing, but rather the kind that a mentor would have for a student. He had to be imagining it, and yet that was the only way to describe it. He thought it best to try and provoke the truth.

'Are you holding back?' Leo asked through the iron taste in his mouth. The strain was getting the better of him.

'What do you mean?' Zeta responded–face beetroot red with apparent rage.

'You are. You're holding back against me!' He considered releasing a jolt of lightning right there out of pure annoyance, but he had to press further. If he beat her now, he wouldn't get to ask her more questions until however long it took for someone to return to the colosseum after death.

'Tell me,' Leo said. 'Do you know why Tiam and I were selected for fights?' He scanned Zeta, waiting for her to lie.

'I know nothing. You think I have any knowledge of why things happen here?' Zeta's mouth twitched at the edge. Leo didn't trust her words in the slightest. This fighter knew more than she let on.

'At least tell me this,' he began. 'What's your rank?'

Zeta smiled. Only now did Leo realise she hadn't typed for some time. Her typing hand made a gesture, pinching her thumb to her little finger. Her free hand had clutched Nameless and pushed back against it with strength that opposed her build. She flexed her pointer finger, and light burned into Leo's leg.

In an instant, Leo's strength left him. He crumpled to one knee, hand losing its grip on Nameless. He managed to peer with his peripheral vision to see the panel of light floating behind him, energy still beading from it like embers of a flame. Zeta could defend and attack at the same time? She must have held the ability back thinking he wasn't worth the trouble. This fighter was just full of arrogance. She didn't move again, like she wanted to savour the final blow.

Leo tried standing, but the burn in his leg ran deeper than he liked to see. He instead gripped his blade once again, determined to push it the rest of the way through that shell. He pressed–the armour cracked some more.

'I don't know what's going on, but I'm gonna keep things really simple.' Leo spat blood and grit on the ground. 'You'll lose here, and I'm gonna use this fight as leverage to climb the ranks right to platinum. This will get me bronze at least, I'd guess based on your power. When I get to the top, I'll find all the secrets you're not telling me, and this whole colosseum will know the truth.'

Zeta smiled, and it was genuine. 'So you also think there's more to this place than fights and a prize.' She flexed her pointer finger again and another blast of light bore into Leo's back. He could feel the very bones in his back burning and breaking from the beam. 'But you're much too weak to handle my rank. That's why I'm here–I needed to test you. You're the guy who made a friend on the battlefield. You're an eccentric.'

'I don't believe that for a second,' Leo roared through bloody teeth. 'You know way more than you're telling me.'

'Prove you're worth telling.'

That was it–the knife that cut a cord of something deep within Leo. He flexed his shoulders outwards, like he was ready to take another blow to the back, then felt the trickle of power run from within him and down his back. Lightning sprouted from him like wild whips. They craned around his body in a jittering manner, clasping around his sword to act as extra appendages and bracing his wounded parts. He pulled his blade free of the shell, then held it at his side.

'That's it. Show me what you can do!' Zeta's shell doubled and then tripled over with layers of hologram panels that webbed together. She put some distance between them and a pair of keyboards apparated by her side. Two panels lifted into the air and fired beams at Leo.

Leo lost his train of thought, which should have meant the end for him. But instead, it was like he didn't need to think. He moved so fluidly that every step was exactly the right movement. The lightning tethers crawled up his blade, filling the gap between its prongs with a solid beam of crackling blue energy. He dodged each beam like they were moving in slow motion.

'This is it, I've found someone worth teaming up with. Congratulations, Leo!' Zeta began typing once again, and a slew of beams splayed from all directions. Blue panels appeared like shields to block Leo's path, but he moved around them before they were fully formed. He refracted beams of light that came too close with Nameless, and stabbed directly through one using its new lightning blade. He ducked low, then fired a shot at Zeta's head from Bellestar. The attack didn't make a dent, but it frightened her enough to make an opening.

Leo roared louder than his voice should have allowed, driving the blade through every layer of armour protecting Zeta. The shells smashed in a vibrant display like a window shattering. The blade drove through Zeta's ribs and to the other side.

Silence.

A single cheer.

Thunderous applause.

The crowd went wild as Zeta fell backwards. She trembled with breath, eyes wide with shock at the sight of Leo's violent lightning. Leo needed to finish the job, but he also needed answers. Should he just let his sudden bloodthirst win and find those secrets himself?

'I forfeit.' Zeta lifted an open palm to the skies above.

'Huh?' Leo nearly lost his balance as his lightning fizzled out.

'That's it.' Zeta's body began to shine with a light that was often used to take an injured victor from the colosseum and back to their room. 'Work your way to silver, then we can talk.' With that, she vanished, leaving Leo confused and in agonising pain.

Only two things made it all better–an announcement that Leo had moved from copper rank to bronze, and that Tiam had won their fight as well.